King Lear - the sonnet
When Lear, a loopy monarch turning 80,
Dictates his will, his daughters go bananas.
Cordelia keeps cool, her reasons weighty;
The elder two come on like fresh piranhas.
With Kent and Cordie exiled, Lear, too foolish,
Goes guesting with his jester, gets a V-sign.
And Gloucester's bastard - this is pretty ghoulish -
Gets Daddy blinded. All is internecine.
The better boy, called Edgar, feigning crazy,
Meets Kent returned. They help Lear go to Dover.
Lear speechifies, and wears the local daisy;
The bastard beats him, Cordie's hanged. It's over?
Sororicide; and suicide; a duel.
So: might young Edgar bring about renewal?